We cordially invite students and colleagues to our upcoming public lecture by Ellen Litwicki (State University of New York) at Room X, 21 November, 16.00.

“Many U.S. and Canadian tourists journey to Latin America’s indigenous villages in search of “authentic” experiences producing cross-cultural understanding and empathy. Mexico has taken the lead in promoting these experiences, from its 1970s promotion of Day of the Dead to increase both tourism and economic development in the impoverished and heavily indigenous southern states, to its recent Magical Villages Program. The homes of indigenous people constitute the most intimate sites of such tourism, which may include meals, handicraft demonstrations and shopping, and even homestays. This paper will examine the various actors (government and tourist agencies, indigenous families, tourists) creating these experiences, as well as their impact on indigenous and tourist participants. Finally, it will consider how such cultural interactions transform both the physical space and meaning of home for participants.”

Ellen Litwicki is a professor of history at the State University of New York at Fredonia, where she has taught since 1992. She previously taught at the University of Utah, and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Szeged in Hungary in 2016. She teaches courses on American cultural history, research methods, public history, and digital humanities. Her publications include America’s Public Holidays 1865-1920 (2000) and articles on American holidays and gift giving. Her current research project is a cultural history of gift giving in the United States.